[ SECRET POST #2888 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2888 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 060 secrets from Secret Submission Post #413.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 (rape) - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I've been watching non-American/Canadian television lately and I've been wondering something. How come they all look like they were filmed in the 1980's? Is it the equipment? Is it because American/Canadian television is more willing to experiment with different filming styles and I am used to that? I am watching recent German crime shows and they all look like they were filmed with the same 80's camera and have the same 80's hazy, monochromatic, point and shoot style.

Am I wrong?

And to those non-American/Canadian F!Sers, what show from your country would you put on a must see list to the world? (I am always looking out for something new to see.)

[kaijinscendre]

This explains it fairly well. http://www.reddit.com/r/answers/comments/zrcx2/why_do_canadian_and_british_tv_shows_look/c672gpt


Breaking Bad is the must see show for everyone.

[(Anonymous)]

fascinating :O I used to be afraid to go to reddit but in the last few days I've found so many interesting things there!

[kaijinscendre]

Reddit is all about where you go. Avoid most of the default subs and you will have a great time!

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for that.

Though it doesn't explain the lack of variety in non-American/Canadian shows. But I think that's just due to lack of money. Like German television can only afford to make soap operas, cop shows, talk shows and that's it. You will never see a space opera from Germany. Not enough money.

[kaijinscendre]

Could just be what audiences prefer (or what studios think audiences prefer).

[(Anonymous)]

Well, there was Raumpatrouille Orion, which I think cost about the same as the pilot episode Star Trek. In total.

And on the British side, Blake's 7 was literally made on the budget of a cop show. They had the same budget as the previous show in their slot. Of course, that did show rather terribly in the SFX, but they did a lot with what they had.

[(Anonymous)]

"But I think that's just due to lack of money."

Yes, that's the reason.
Most countries only have the local audience and have to compete against American (and some times Canadian and British) shows that have the whole word as an audience.
It's normal that they stick to the safe (aka do stuff they know their audience like) and that they don't have a big budget.

[dethtoll]

I must not be everyone, then, because I saw a few eps and didn't see the appeal.

[icecheetah]

Is that link down? I literally can't get it to load at all.

[comradesmiler]

As a non-american, I recommend Life on Mars and UFO.

[(Anonymous)]

...what's UFO? (Yah Google is spectacularly unhelpful.)

[(Anonymous)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_(TV_series)

UFO is a 1970 British sci-fi series by the same people who did Thunderbirds, about a secret organisation that defends the earth against UFO incursions by a race of aliens that steal human organs. It's amazingly cynical and has amazingly terrible fashion, and it's paced more like a Cold War spy series, but it's fascinating and has some genuinely great stories. I adore it. Just, um. It's very cynical. Actions have consequences, and usually not good ones.

[aboutelle]

Which German crime shows do you watch?

Regarding your (first) question: German tv shows are produced way more cheaply than American shows. An episode costs about 600.000€ to make (to compare: an episode of the Big Bang Theory costs about 2 million USD). So that's probably why they look more cheap, they are.

A must-see German show is imo Der Tatortreiniger. It's a comedy series about a crime scene cleaner. The comedy results from the weird people he meets on the job and the surreal situations he gets in.

[aboutelle]

I'll probably out myself as someone with terrible taste but I thought I'd mention two other shows I can recommend (but wouldn't consider must-see).

Danni Lowinski. It's a sitcom/dramedy? about a lawyer who couldn't get a job so she opens her own office in a mall and charges 1€ per minute. The low price attracts people who can't afford a "regular" lawyer like immigrants, the homeless etc. It got some critical acclaim for providing social commentary.

Schillerstraße. It was an improvisation comedy. Cordula Stratmann, a comedian, lives in an apartment and gets visited by her friends (who are all played by other comedians). There is no script and sometimes one or more of the comedians get a prompt over head set. Quality varied depending on the starring comedians and the show went downhill after Cordula left but the early episodes were gold.

[(Anonymous)]

When a sitcom like The Big Bang Theory costs a lot, it's probably mostly due to actor's salaries. I think it's fair to say that that more money is usually available for high production values, though.

[anonymous4]

American TV's glossy. That sometimes applies to the stories as well as the production values.

In Britain, we get to see quite a lot of non-US/UK TV. I recommend:

The Killing ('Forbrydelsen', Danish)
The Bridge ('Broen/Bron', Danish/Swedish)
The Tunnel (a British/French remake of The Bridge)
Spiral ('Engrenages', French)
Wallander (Swedish)
Arne Dahl (Swedish)
Mammon (Norwegian)
Gran Hotel (Spanish)
Inspector Montalbano ('Il Commissario Montalbano', Italian)
Romanzo Criminale (Italian)
The Code (Australian)

[(Anonymous)]

French here.
I guess I'd say Kaamelott, a humoristic retelling of Arthurian legends. Ouais, c'est pas faux.

I don't think there's a lot of shows being done here. I don't really look for it so I may be wrong but I think it's mostly cops shows.
There are some quite popular web series going into other genres though.

For exemple, "Le visiteur du futur", a SF story about a hobo looking guy with a time-machine in a wristband going back in time to prevent apocalyptic events from happening... mostly by annoying random people that would start a chain of events leading to a disaster.

Of course they didn't have any money to do it at first so they had to be clever and use little tricks and plots that helped them making the story easy to film and not look too cheap.
As they got more popular and managed to get more help for doing it, they polished it and expended the universe of the series quite well.

Canadian Recs

[(Anonymous)]

Da Vinci's Inquest The earliest seasons, anyway, they jumped the shark when he ran for mayor. ME procedural set in Vancouver. Actually set IN actual Vancouver. And they got it right.

The Murdoch Mysteries NOTE: NOT THE CURRENT TV SHOW. The original TV movies. They were seriously better than the books. Victorian-era Toronto police detective who wants to bring 19th-century science into detective work. Strong characters, compelling dialogue, interesting, engaging plots, the look of the movies was amaaaaaaazing.

reGenesis Canada's answer to the CDC is a cross between the CIA and the fictional government agency from The Andromeda Strain. Much better than it sounds. Also, Peter Outerbridge (again).

From the Golden Oldies VCR cupboard, I present you:

Forever Knight Police procedural set in Toronto AS Toronto, with the main character a police detective who only works nights, because he's a vampire. Features Nigel Bennett as the creepy vampire protagonist who's trying to get the main character to go back to the vampire lifestyle. I don't really like the way they ended, the show, but meh. At least they ended it. If you like FULL CLOSURE when a series ends, full stop, FK is the show for you.

Highlander This series, on the other hand...closure, not so much. (Avoid any of the movies without Peter Wingfield like the plague. THE PLAGUE I tell you, THE PLAGUE.)

War of the Worlds. Shut up! It was good! OK maybe not "good" but still, it was SF, there were honest-to-God ALIEN aliens! It was cyberpunk! It was dystopian to the max! ...yeah okay it sucked. But I liked it. YMMV. The finale was hilariously bad in a Plan 9 From Outer Space kinda way, but I still have a tiny little spot in my blackened little cinder chip of a heart for that show. Plus, Julian Richings! (Currently playingg Death on SPN.)

Back to the present, I've heard nothing but glowing reviews for both Strange Empire and Republic of Doyle, but haven't seen either (Republic of Doyle is definitely not my thing...the best part of St. John's is, in my opinion, being physically as far away as you can get from that "city" without falling into the Atlantic.) So take those as potential recs.

Also, as I am Defiance!stan, I am just going to say, Defiance is totally 100% a Canadian show, so you must all go watch it. *raspberry*

Re: Canadian Recs

[(Anonymous)]

I like Murdoch Mysteries tv series.

Re: Canadian Recs

[the_missing_y]

Same. I love it in fact.

You caught up to date on it? The last episode of the current season? Literally saw it yesterday and am STILL in shock.

HOLY FUCK.

[(Anonymous)]

I was just thinking the other day about how non-US Spanish-language soap operas look so similar in picture quality to US daytime soaps (or at least the way I remember them looking back when they still existed) when soap operas have such a different look to them than anything airing in prime time. I imagine soap opeas just tend to be filmed on cheaper video regardless of language or country of origin.

[(Anonymous)]

It's funny you say this because I always thought that American shows often look kind of cheap, old fashioned and weird.

[(Anonymous)]

Uh-huh. Sure you do.

[(Anonymous)]

No need for the weak attempt at condescending sarcasm. It only reads like butthurt.
It's always a matter with which type of TV shows you grew up with. If the majority of shows you watched is not of the American variety, those look strange to you if you're not used to them. And for me, the American shows I know always have this strange oversaturated, overuse-of-filters kind of feel to it that makes it look cheap and old fashioned in my eyes.